Government


Fast Times on Planet Earth

Fallows:

…a reminder that the connectedness of the world and the instantaneous global spread of images have consequences that are unfolding more quickly than anyone can anticipate or make sense of.

For a positive take on one possible path read Sawyer’s Neanderthal Parallax trilogy.
One thing that neither Fallows or his chinese correspondent take note of is that in most places in the united states you can still take the pictures and post them for the world to see.


Eliminate Subsidies?

Matt Yglesias is right when he notes that “The large-scale subsidies the housing sector is one of the least market-oriented aspects of the American economy,…” and suggests that they be eliminated.
Agreed, they should be eliminated.
As he is so keen on making the economy more market-oriented he should not object to properly extending his principle.
Let’s get rid of all the various federal, state and local monetary subsidies, organizational protective legislation and imposed monopolies.
This will go far towards satisfying Matt’s desire for a more market-oriented economy.
An extra benefit might be reducing the long-term deficit as long as the reduced expenditures aren’t spent on other market distorting activities like wars.


obama Hammers bush

While it is not surprising that obama can run circles around bush there are some wins that are, perhaps, not so positive.
Of course, bush did leave a mess. Including an overall debt increase of $4.9 Trillion.
With all that bush stimulus spending Krugman was probably right in saying that obama’s $800 billion was too little.

But, then, with all that bush stimulus why was there a downturn at all…?